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Boosters Will Help Curb Delta Or More Dangerous Variants, Say Scientists

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Delta can cause breakthrough infections and illness in people with lower antibody levels.
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The roll out of a third dose of Covid vaccine has sparked debate on ethical and political grounds, since a large swath of the human population is yet to receive any inoculation. But the case for boosters on scientific grounds is building.
The reason is delta. The most-infectious coronavirus variant to emerge so far is in a race with the human immune system, and there's mounting evidence that delta is winning -- at least initially. Fully vaccinated individuals infected with the variant have peak virus levels in the upper airways as high as those lacking immunity, a large study from the U.K. showed last week.
That suggests people with delta-induced breakthrough infections also may be capable of transmitting the virus, frustrating efforts to curb the Covid pandemic. Waning antibody levels in some highly vaccinated populations such as Israel have prompted calls to offer boosters to blunt fresh waves of hospitalizations. 
"The science is the boosters work, and they will definitely help," said Shane Crotty, a virologist and professor at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology's Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research in California.
In fully vaccinated, healthy adults, booster shots from Moderna Inc. as well as Pfizer Inc. and its partner BioNTech SE cause antibodies to rebound to peak levels, if not well beyond, Crotty said in a Zoom interview Friday. Those antibodies are also likely to be more durable and adept at fighting a wider range of SARS-CoV-2 strains, he said.
That's especially helpful in fighting delta. Researchers in China found the strain is detectable in patients four days after picking up the virus -- two days earlier than was previously observed -- indicating the strain makes individuals infectious sooner. 
People infected with delta were also found to have significantly higher amounts of virus in their upper airways compared with infections caused by other strains.
"It's inherently tougher to stop with antibodies because there's more of it and it's a tougher challenge for the immune system," Crotty said. 
Bolstering antibody levels with an extra dose of vaccine may enable the immune system to swiftly block delta on its arrival in the nose and throat, preventing the coronavirus from not only infecting cells and causing illness, but also stopping it from spreading, he said. A slower antibody response, on the other hand, may increase infectiousness and worsen symptoms.
"It's a race between the virus and your immune system," Crotty said. The faster the virus replicates, the less time antibodies have to block an infection. 
Still, even when a delayed antibody response does lead to infection, immunity generated by either vaccination or a natural infection is usually enough to prevent it causing severe illness in an otherwise healthy person, he said.
Most pediatric vaccine regimens are administered over three shots, Crotty said. "A lot of that is about the mechanics of immune memory generation -- that it's frequently taken three exposures to get that," he said.
Delta Concern
Three studies published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week showed that although delta may be hastening a decline in the effectiveness of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech shots at preventing SARS-CoV-2 infections, including among nursing home residents, the vaccines remained a reliable shield against hospitalization over a six-month period.
Delta can cause breakthrough infections and illness in people with lower antibody levels, said Andrew Pekosz, a professor of molecular microbiology at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. "The good news is that vaccine efficacy against severe disease is still maintained," he said. 
Virus particles from delta-infected individuals are much less likely to be infectious if they're emitted from fully vaccinated people, researchers in the Netherlands showed in a study released ahead of publication Saturday. Immunized individuals are also infectious for a shorter period compared with those without immunity, reducing the likelihood of onward transmission, research from Singapore last month showed.
It's possible the infectiousness of vaccinated individuals could be further reduced with third shots using a different inoculation, delivery via a nasal spray, and even with smaller amounts of the same vaccine, Pekosz said. 
"We are still working out the mechanics of how best to use these vaccines for maximum protection," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. "Our challenge is going to be how to continue to use these vaccines to maximize the most important aspect of public health: preventing infections."
Curbing spread is also key to preventing the emergence of variants even more dangerous than delta, he said.
Vaccine Equity
That goal must be sought globally with equity and solidarity, Osterholm said. 
"It's a worldwide epidemic that will continue until you take care of it around the world," he said. "From a humanitarian standpoint, this is obviously critical." 
In the U.S., unvaccinated people are now swamping medical institutions in large swaths of the country, Johns Hopkins' Pekosz said. "Vaccination would keep people out of the hospital, and that is the most important thing that vaccinations can do."
La Jolla's Crotty estimates that more than 90% of SARS-CoV-2 transmission is from unvaccinated people. "In the U.S., we've got so many of those," he said. 
"If you have two doses of vaccine, it's way more valuable for those two doses to go to an unvaccinated person than people getting boosters if you want to talk about transmission," Crotty said. "But if you can't convince the people to get the damn things and somebody else wants them now, will it actually help the other person? Yeah, it will help them."
--With assistance from Lisa Beyer.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/boosters-will-help-curb-delta-or-more-dangerous-variants-say-scientists-2516422">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/boosters-will-help-curb-delta-or-more-dangerous-variants-say-scientists-2516422</a>

news world Boosters Will Help Curb Delta Or More Dangerous Variants, Say Scientists

Delta can cause breakthrough infections and illness in people with lower antibody levels. The roll out of a third dose of Covid vaccine ...

New Zealand Lockdown To Be Extended Until At Least Friday: Report

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Lambton Quay is devoid of people on the first day of a lockdown to curb the spread of Covid in Wellington
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Wellington:
New Zealand is set to stay in COVID-19 lockdown until at least midnight Friday, New Zealand Herald reported without giving the source of the information.
Auckland, which is the epicentre of the latest Delta variant outbreak, may be in lockdown for longer, the report said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is expected to announce a decision shortly on whether she will extend or end the lockdown.
Currently, the country of 5.1 million is under lockdown until midnight on Tuesday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
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news world New Zealand Lockdown To Be Extended Until At Least Friday: Report

Lambton Quay is devoid of people on the first day of a lockdown to curb the spread of Covid in Wellington Wellington: New Zealand is se...

Taiwan's President Leads Way In First Domestic Covid Vaccine

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President Tsai Ing-wen chatted to medical workers as they prepared her shot.
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Taipei:
President Tsai Ing-wen got vaccinated with Taiwan's first domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, giving her personal stamp of approval as the island begins rolling out the shot whose approval critics say has been rushed.
The health ministry last month approved the emergency use of Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp's COVID-19 vaccine, part of a broader plan for inoculation self-sufficiency as delays in vaccine deliveries from global drug companies have affected Taiwan and many other countries.
Tsai, who had held off using vaccines from Moderna Inc or AstraZeneca Plc, the current mainstay of Taiwan's vaccination programme, received her Medigen shot at a hospital in central Taipei, demonstrating her confidence in the safety of the vaccine.
Tsai chatted to medical workers as they prepared her shot, the whole process being broadcast live on her Facebook page, and gave a short response of "no" to a shouted question from reporters about whether she was nervous.
More than 700,000 people have signed up so far to receive the Medigen vaccine, which requires a second shot 28 days after the first one.
The government says the initial experience of the pandemic last year, when basic supplies such as face masks were in short supply, made it realise they had to be able to rely on themselves for critical materials.
Medigen, whose Chinese name literally means "high-end", rejects claims its vaccine is either unsafe or that it has been sent to market with undue haste, saying it is effective and well tested.
"We have done so many experiments, everyone has seen how safe our vaccine is. There are so few side effects, almost no fever and so on. So I think everyone can rest assured," Medigen's Chief Executive Officer Charles Chen told Reuters.
The recombinant protein vaccine has been developed in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health in the United States, and the government has ordered an initial 5 million doses. It says nobody will be forced to get it.
The vaccine has yet to finish clinical trials and no efficacy data is available, but the government says studies so far have shown that antibodies created by the shot have been "no worse than" those created by AstraZeneca's vaccine.
Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang, or KMT, has mounted a fierce campaign against the shot, with one of its former vice chairmen, Hau Lung-bin, filing a lawsuit to invalidate Medigen's authorisation, though a court rejected that last week.
The party says it supports domestic vaccines, but that Medigen's approval has been rushed.
"There is no need for the lives and health of the Taiwanese people to serve as white rats in a laboratory," Ho Chih-yung, deputy head of the KMT's international department, told Reuters.
Around 40% of Taiwan's 23.5 million people have received at least one shot of either of the two-dose AstraZeneca or Moderna vaccines, though fewer than 5% are fully vaccinated.
However, unlike some other parts of Asia, Taiwan faces no huge pressure to accelerate its vaccination drive, as it is recording only a handful of domestic infections a day.
Taiwan has received more than 10 million vaccine doses to date, and in July ordered a further 36 million doses of Moderna's.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/taiwans-president-tsai-ing-wen-leads-way-in-first-domestic-covid-vaccine-2516408">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/taiwans-president-tsai-ing-wen-leads-way-in-first-domestic-covid-vaccine-2516408</a>

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President Tsai Ing-wen chatted to medical workers as they prepared her shot. Taipei: President Tsai Ing-wen got vaccinated with Taiwan...

Uncertainty, Distress For Afghan Cricketers After Taliban Takeover

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Afghanistan's cricket team players attend a training session at Kabul International Cricket Ground
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Kabul, Afghanistan:
The crack of bat on ball echoes around Kabul's international stadium as Afghanistan's top cricketers prepare for their next tour -- just days after the country fell to the Taliban.
The calm of the empty stadium is a surreal contrast to scenes just a few kilometres north, where tens of thousands of Afghans at Kabul airport are desperately trying to flee on evacuation flights.
Following the stunning victory of the hardline Islamists, many of the players in cricket-mad Afghanistan's beloved national team are finding it difficult to focus on sport.
"The fear is there in their eyes, in their voices, even in their messages," pace bowler Naveen-ul-Haq said of his teammates in Kabul during a BBC radio interview broadcast at the weekend.
"The Taliban have said (they) won't be troubling any sportsman, but nobody knows," added Haq, speaking from the West Indies where he plays in the Caribbean Premier League.
The return of the Taliban has sparked widespread fear in Afghanistan and in the international community, reviving memories of their brutal first stint in power from 1996 to 2001 when they imposed a harsh version of Islamic law.
They banned most forms of entertainment -- including many sports -- and stadiums doubled as public execution venues.
Sports the Taliban did allow were strictly controlled, and were for only for men to play and watch.
They did not mind cricket, however, and the game born centuries ago on the playing fields of England is popular among Taliban terrorists too.
That has done little to ease the fears of many players, for whom the fall of the country is about a lot more than the sport.
"I appeal to the leaders of the world; please don't let Afghanistan go into chaos," former national captain Mohammad Nabi tweeted days before the fall of Kabul, as the Taliban were rapidly capturing territory.
"We need your support. We want peace."
'More than a game'
Cricket was barely known in the nation until the early 2000s, and its explosive rise in popularity was linked with conflict -- the sport was picked up in Pakistan by Afghan refugees who then seeded it in their home country.
But the national team has enjoyed a meteoric rise on the international scene since then, gaining coveted Test status in 2017 and now ranked among the top-10 sides in the world in the one-day and Twenty20 formats.
In the last 20 years, it has also emerged as a powerful symbol of national unity in a country riven by civil war and ethnic conflict.
"If you find positive news, if you see people happy together, it's only cricket... that brings it to the country. It's that important to Afghanistan," Haq told the BBC.
"It's more than a game for Afghanistan's people."
That connection with national identity was visible on Afghanistan's independence day -- August 19, less than a week after the fall of Kabul.
Afghan cricketers marked it by tweeting pictures and emojis of the tri-colour national flag, which the Taliban have replaced with their white banner in areas under their control.
All-rounder Samiullah Shinwari had earlier tweeted a photo with the date of the Taliban takeover of Kabul -- August 15 -- and the words: "The day Afghans lost their country and the whole world just watched."
Difficult to focus
For the Afghan players currently outside the country, there are fears for their loved ones back home.
The family of Rashid Khan -- Afghanistan's biggest cricket star -- can't leave the country, according to former England star Kevin Pietersen, who spoke to him last week during a tournament in Britain.
"We had a long chat here on the boundary talking about it and (Khan) is worried: he can't get his family out of Afghanistan," Pietersen told Sky Sports.
There are positive signs. On Sunday, the Afghanistan Cricket Board tweeted pictures of its newly reappointed chairman to indicate it would be business as usual.
Despite the uncertainty, Afghanistan's cricket authorities have said their upcoming series against Pakistan, to be played in Sri Lanka, will go ahead.
With no commercial flights operating from Afghanistan, an official said the team would drive to Pakistan and fly out from there.
But even for those who are able to play away from Afghanistan, such as Naveen-ul-Haq in the West Indies, the images from home are difficult to ignore.
"You forget about it for a minute or two to focus on cricket but it jumps into your mind again," he told the BBC.
"I can't say that I will be fully focused on playing only cricket because you can't when you see your country like that."
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/uncertainty-distress-for-afghan-cricketers-after-taliban-takeover-2516404">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/uncertainty-distress-for-afghan-cricketers-after-taliban-takeover-2516404</a>

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Afghanistan's cricket team players attend a training session at Kabul International Cricket Ground Kabul, Afghanistan: The crack of...

Despite Delta, China Hits Zero Cases With A Month Of Draconian Curbs

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China took testing to an unprecedented level during this go-round.
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It's been just over a month, and China has once again squelched Covid-19, bringing its local cases down to zero. 
It was more difficult this time, even though the leaders of the world's most populous nation used the same playbook they followed to quell more than 30 previous flare-ups. The arrival of the more infectious delta variant has raised the stakes, as the pathogen refines its ability to escape curbs and flout vaccination. It's unclear how long the victory will last. 
The China model shows what it takes to get Covid under control, and raises questions about whether other nations would be willing - or able - to follow the same draconian steps. 
Here's what happened between July 20, when news emerged of a cluster of infections among airport cleaning staff in the eastern city of Nanjing, and August 23, when China returned to Covid Zero. 
Repeated mass testing of entire cities  
China took testing to an unprecedented level during this go-round. Local authorities checked their populations repeatedly, a dozen times in one city alone, to ensure every last infection was caught. In all, more than 100 million tests were administered. In the city of Yangzhou, some people were infected while waiting in line to get swabbed.
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Quarantines also played a larger role. The Chinese capital of Beijing at one point was sealed off from other places with even a single case. It also cut off trains and flights from hotspots around the country, even though the city ultimately posted fewer than 10 infections in the delta flareup. 
Other regions introduced sweeping curbs, from barring entry for people from high-risk areas to asking them to cut short vacations. Most had to remain isolated at home - a rule that was strictly enforced - before returning to work and school. More than 200 neighborhoods were labeled high- or medium-risk, triggering sweeping curbs that disrupted lives and businesses. 
A Peak and a Plunge
First there was one asymptomatic infection at the airport in Nanjing. The next day, there were more than a dozen. By the end of that week in July, daily infections had climbed to nearly 50, suggesting exponential spread across more than 1,000 kilometers. In less than three weeks, daily cases ballooned to more than 100, scattered across half of the nation. Then it ended, almost as quickly as it began. The number of infections dropped to single digits the next week amid tightening curbs, then zero. More testing will show if it has been vanquished. 
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The blazing spread of the delta variant across the country became the biggest test of China's Covid control model. Ultimately it penetrated nearly 50 cities across 17 provinces and reintroduced the virus to Wuhan, which had been Covid-free for over a year. 
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Still, China eliminated the virus in about a month, roughly the same time it took to quell previous outbreaks including one at the start of 2021 that totalled some 2,000 cases. In comparison, cities in Australia have undergone repeated lockdowns, keeping more than half of the country's 26 million people confined to their homes, without gaining control of the virus. In the U.S., which has never succeeded in containment, relying instead of vaccination, booster shots are slated to roll out next month to shore up protection against its delta resurgence. 
China has thus far kept all its infected patients alive. In the viral hotspot of Jiangsu province, critical cases at one point rose to as many as 18, raising fear that the country could see its first Covid fatalities in more than six months. Yet many have since shown signs of disease moderation and recovery. 
Economic Setback
The containment-at-all-costs approach is weighing on the world's second largest economy. Consumption and manufacturing slowed in July, with further weakness expected for August when infections peaked and measures to control them intensified. Investment banks from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to Nomura Holdings Inc. cut their growth projections.
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Covid Zero vs Co-Existence
More infectious variants and their rampant spread are making the global eradication of Covid-19 less likely. That realization is driving decisions in countries from Australia to Singapore to learn to live with the virus after they previously sought to eliminate it. 
Still, China has proven its ability to keep the pathogen at bay, and it has vowed to continue, regardless of the effort or expense. Health minister Ma Xiaowei told the state news agency Xinhua on August 16 that authorities planned even stricter measures intended to spot incursions of the virus from abroad more quickly. 
The health minister also reiterated that Covid containment provides a more stable environment for economic development and investment. 
With the delta variant swirling globally, making herd immunity an impossibility, China is finding itself isolated in its zero tolerance approach. The threats from outside will continue. Some new cases over the past few days were reported in places like Shanghai, rather than in the most recent outbreak's hotspots. 
It's clear China can stamp out the virus. The question remains how long it can hold out against the rest of the world. 
--With assistance from Amanda Wang and Jinshan Hong.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/despite-delta-china-hits-zero-cases-with-a-month-of-draconian-curbs-2516400">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/despite-delta-china-hits-zero-cases-with-a-month-of-draconian-curbs-2516400</a>

news world Despite Delta, China Hits Zero Cases With A Month Of Draconian Curbs

China took testing to an unprecedented level during this go-round. It's been just over a month, and China has once again squelched C...